Paying Honor To Pvt. Bohn

There's a small, white tombstone in Lehighton Cemetery. It's only about 18 inches high and 12 inches wide, and it marks the grave of a Civil War veteran.

There lies the body of Pvt. John Bohn, who served with Company B of the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteers. The tombstone does not indicate the year of his birth or the year of his death.

A tarnished metal marker is stuck in the ground in front of the stone. The emblem says GAR, for Grand Army of the Republic. A 12-inch pole rises from the marker, the kind of pole that holds a small American flag to identify the grave as that of a veteran. But the flag is gone.

The reason why it's gone is unpleasant.

Workers at Lehighton Cemetery ordinarily don't have too many surprises awaiting them when they come to work each day. Nothing unusual. Dig a grave or two. Cut the grass. Trim the trees. Check the flowers. Make sure everything is attractive.

But one morning a few days ago, the workers were greeted by a surprise. Some individual or individuals, with the manners of a dog, decided to use the cemetery as a bathroom and to use flags - apparently one from Pvt. Bohn's grave - as toilet paper.

"Somebody defecated and used two of the small flags," said a cemetery official on Friday.

Unfortunately, that was not the first time someone has used a flag in such a way.

"This is the fourth time that this has happened this year. . . . They tear off the flag and use it as toilet paper," he said.

It is not the type of thing you want to see when you get to work in the morning. One of the workers scooped up the mess behind one of the mausoleums, leaving a patch of dirt in the grass. The mausoleum is only about 30 feet from Pvt. Bohn's grave.

I've never been one to go around waving the American flag, defending the United States regardless of what it does or appealing to patriotism on purely emotional grounds.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1943 that people could not be forced to salute the flag. When Gov. Michael Dukakis vetoed a bill in 1977 that would have required Massachusetts teachers to lead their classes in the Pledge of Allegiance, he was upholding that law - despite George Bush's campaign protests.

Patriotism includes being able to speak out and criticize the country when necessary - a principle that formed the foundation of the Declaration of Independence and is the cornerstone of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

But I don't advocate desecrating the flag. Too many people lost their lives defending the flag and this country to treat it so cavalierly. For too many people, it's an important symbol. That's why the acts in Lehighton Cemetery are reprehensible.

For workers at the cemetery, it's nothing new. Cemetery officials didn't report last week's vandalism to authorities. Indeed, the only time they reported it was the first time, when they called Wayne "Porky" Hunsicker, director of the Carbon County Veterans Affairs, who is responsible for ordering the flags to be placed on veterans' graves.

"The first time I reported it to Wayne Hunsicker, and he told police about it. . . . But what can you really do about it? It's too bad, but that's they way things are today," said the cemetery official.

He's probably right. The cemetery gates are not locked at night. But even if they were, people - and I use the term loosely - with vandalism on their minds could easily climb the fence surrounding the grounds and do whatever they want to do.

But incidents at the cemetery like the one last week should not go unnoticed by the public. Pvt. Bohn - and the others buried there - deserve as much.